Statistical classification of hydrogeologic regions in the fractured rock area of Maryland and parts of the District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Delaware

Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5043
Prepared in cooperation with the Maryland Department of the Environment
By: , and 

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Abstract

Hydrogeologic regions in the fractured rock area of Maryland were classified using geographic information system tools with principal components and cluster analyses. A study area consisting of the 8-digit Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) watersheds with rivers that flow through the fractured rock area of Maryland and bounded by the Fall Line was further subdivided into 21,431 catchments from the National Hydrography Dataset Plus. The catchments were then used as a common hydrologic unit to compile relevant climatic, topographic, and geologic variables. A principal components analysis was performed on 10 input variables, and 4 principal components that accounted for 83 percent of the variability in the original data were identified. A subsequent cluster analysis grouped the catchments based on four principal component scores into six hydrogeologic regions. Two crystalline rock hydrogeologic regions, including large parts of the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore metropolitan regions that represent over 50 percent of the fractured rock area of Maryland, are distinguished by differences in recharge, Precipitation minus Potential Evapotranspiration, sand content in soils, and groundwater contributions to streams. This classification system will provide a georeferenced digital hydrogeologic framework for future investigations of groundwater availability in the fractured rock area of Maryland.

Study Area

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Statistical classification of hydrogeologic regions in the fractured rock area of Maryland and parts of the District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Delaware
Series title Scientific Investigations Report
Series number 2013-5043
DOI 10.3133/sir20135043
Year Published 2013
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Maryland-Delaware-District of Columbia Water Science Center
Description Report: vi, 16 p.; Additional Information
Country United States
State Delaware;District of Columbia;Maryl;Pennsylvania;Virginia;West Virginia
Datum North American Datum 1983
Scale 100000
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Additional Online Files (Y/N) Y
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
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